Donations to Aid Haiti Set New Text Records

The earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday has prompted more donations than many aid groups say they have seen since Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunamis.

Many groups are raising big sums online and through text messages. The American Red Cross had received $5.6-million as of 6 p.m. Eastern time Thursday through its campaign to encourage $10 gifts through texts.

That’s a record for the group in terms of text messages; by contrast, it raised $200,000 from texts after the 2008 hurricane season.

Overall, the Red Cross had raised nearly $35-million in donations by Thursday afternoon – more than it had received online in the 48 hours following Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamis.

Less well-known organizations, too, are benefiting from donors’ generosity. And charity watchdog groups, aid workers, and others have gone online to offer advice for donors on how best to give.

“This is tsunami-esque for Brother’s Brother,” said Karen Dempsey, vice president in charge of fund raising with the Pittsburgh aid group.

Pharmaceutical companies have been calling her charity out of the blue offering donations of medical supplies, she said. The group, which primarily relies on in-kind contributions, had raised $12,000 as of Wednesday night online.

The 70 largest American companies, meanwhile, had donated $27.3-million in cash and products to the Haitian relief efforts by Thursday afternoon, according to Stephen Jordan, executive director of the Business Civic Leadership Center, a Washington nonprofit group connected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He said corporate giving to earthquake relief could tip $80-million in the days ahead.

But the devastation is so vast that many aid workers worry the response will not be enough.

Many also are contending with severe damage to their own facilities in Haiti and difficulties getting information on their workers who were living there at the time of the earthquake.

The Pan American Development Foundation raised $30,000 online as of Wednesday, twice what it did after flooding in Haiti in 2009. But the group estimates that it will need $10-million just for recovery efforts.

Michael Zamba, senior director of communications for the organization, said his charity was getting many calls from companies interested in helping. The group is trying to involve those companies’ employees in supporting the relief efforts and has plans to engage celebrities in encouraging giving.

“The response from individuals has come faster and without our promoting it,” Mr. Zamba said.

Other charities fund-raising results:

• AmeriCares had raised more than $2-million as of Friday morning.

• Catholic Relief Services had raised $2.5-million online as of Thursday morning. The group estimates that another $1-million has come in through the telephone and in pledges by major donors.

• Convio, the company that provides software to charities, processed about $30-million on Wednesday, $10-million more than it did on December 31, typically the biggest fund-raising day of the year. It processed another $30-million on Thursday.

• GlobalGiving had received more than 4,100 donations totaling roughly $270,000 as of 10:30 Eastern time on Friday.

• Lutheran World Relief had surpassed $375,000 in online gifts as of Friday morning.

• Mercy Corps had received at least $3.5-million as of Friday morning, with about $2.5-million coming in online. That is more than the aid group received in the same period following Hurricane Katrina, China earthquake, or Mynamar cyclone.

• Operation USA had raised $100,000 as of Wednesday night, its biggest response in the first 24 hours after a disaster since Hurricane Katrina.

• Oxfam America had raised $4.5-million as of Friday morning. The average gift online was $97.

• The Salvation Army had raised $1.65-million online as of Friday morning.

• Save the Children’s U.S. organization had raised more than $4.2-million as of Friday, while its international affiliates had raised an additional $960,000. The group has set a fund-raising goal of $20-million.

• World Vision had received about $3.9-million as of Thursday evening.

Nicole Wallace and Ian Wilhelm contributed to this story.